Though it took but a mere afternoon for all the Ponyville to realize once and for all that their Princess was not in any mortal danger nor gone for good, and that the Spirit of Chaos taking residency in their town had nothing but good intentions, Twilight Sparkle knew it would take days, perhaps weeks if not even months for the chaotic circumstances of her three weeks long disappearance to completely mellow down.
The upside to the entire situation was that thanks to the fierce efforts of certain Ponyville citizens, the news of her disappearance managed to not spread out like wildfire, and ponies everywhere would believe her location was disclosed to some of her more trusted contacts. The Equestrian Princesses, whom the news reached discreetly in a form of a message delivered inside of one of Pinkie's giant cupcakes, managed to keep a surprising amount of composure to the entire situation. By all accounts, the Princesses seemed happy and relieved, and have discreetly decided to not immediately invade her with question, even though Cadance seemed like she knew there was more to the excuse of a 'short vacation that went dimensionally out of control'.
The downside of the entire situation came with morning's national newspaper two days later, headlined with a decorative, massive black lettering that read "Twilight Sparkle back from her incognito vacation in the unknown", followed by a six-page-long article that questioned her whereabouts, just where it was her vacation took place, if her tan got any better and if she finally 'did something with that mane of hers'... and by far the worst thing, just what it was that she was doing in a position of a Princess, questioning her abilities.
Twilight frowned at the newspaper as she threaded through it, finishing the text in less than ten minutes, for most of it was utter mumbo-jumbo. There was even a section questioning if she took her supposed 'vacationing' to Tartarus, the possibility of which she spent far too much time considering at this point.
"Why would anypony do this? After all the trouble ponies of Ponyville went through to protect my name, this is nearly worse than what could've been!"
"Nonsense, I'm certain it is still much better than you causing a kingdom-wide panic by your unexplained absence! Just be lucky that nopony local has spilled the beans!" Discord declared as his body disintegrated into many tiny Discord-faced seeds of bean. "Consider this a lesson in subtlety." They declared. When she didn't say anything, and her eyes narrowed even further, the tiny, numerous eyes suddenly looked less enthusiastic. "Oh dear. Come to think of it, this was entirely my fault, wasn't it?" They asked in unison, smiling apologetically. The Alicorn fumed.
"Are you kidding me?!" Twilight demanded loud enough to topple the beans off the table, and they made a pleasant sounds as they hit the floor, akin to filly's giggles. It only served to provoke her even further. "Ugh, I can't even imagine why I figured I'd get any consolation talking to you!"
"Now that's just taking it too far! I can be very caring and sensitive!" The beans protested. Twilight eyed the beans dangerously.
"Three. Weeks." She managed through her gritted teeth. The beans cleared their throat, and put on a sweet face.
"Call it a small mistake in figuring out the time theorem. Dimension travelling isn't easy, you know."
"Is the idea of at least apologizing really killing you so much that you have nothing better to say?"
"Is that what this is about? Me being sorry?" For once, he seemed surprised as he morphed into his normal self. "I was pretty sure at least that much is evident! I mean, why else would I do visual puns?" He extended his palm, in which a single bean left stood, squeaking sadly: "You usually love visual puns!"
Shutting both her eyes and mouth firm, Twilight had to remind herself for a countless time that being Discord in any place that wasn't his first choice was not easy. She eyed the bean and sighed. It was a pretty solid dumb pun, she had to admit as she looked at his face again, all hopeful and sincere.
"I do, I do. I just--" When she couldn't find any extra words to say, Twilight simple sighed. "I just need some time alone, alright? I can't handle anypony or anything right now. I... I need to clear my head." And with those somber words, she picked herself up and into her bedroom. The Spirit crossed his arms, and sighed just as sadly. He certainly didn't expect such a turn of events out of their first official romantic outing. Especially not after it went so well. If that one thing caused the entire kingdom to look down on her, just how bleak could their future possibly be? Was there one?
A future... without Twilight Sparkle?
"Oh, this simply won't do." The Spirit decided with a snarl.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"You want us to do what?"
"I thought I made myself perfectly clear." The Spirit blinked. "Tell whoever makes this to stop putting such awful things into press."
If there was ever a day that Celestia nearly allowed herself to be insulted by someone, it was this day. Luna and her had been called many names, and their own names have been dragged through many papers, and mentioned across mouths in light both positive and not but it was a first that someone casually, indirectly referred to any of them as an actual dictator. She had to steady herself and, much like her student, remind herself - this is Discord. When he wasn't actively trying to insult someone, he had little to no knowledge of whether he just did so.
That being said, she figured she might as well have her fun with this conversation. Luna, as stoic as ever, simply sipped her tea, letting her sister take over the fun part of it.
"I suppose this is quite a problem for any young Princess' reputation. Whom do you suppose I should talk to?" Celestia inquired, suddenly amused by the concept the draconequus had drawn up in his head.
"Whoever is writing these!" Discord slapped the copy of the newspaper on the impeccable surface of her tea table. "Not that I would know anypony who does it."
"Hmm, indeed, a pony responsible for this should probably be, in some way, confronted about such an awful piece of tabloid news making it this big."
"Quite." Luna remarked idly.
"I knew you'd see it my way!" The Spirit exclaimed happily, when the Princesses continued:
"But that being said," Celestia mused, "we have to decide who the real culprit is. Is it the pony who authorized the printing? The author himself? The editor? The other editor?"
"The little filly accepting money for these on the street corner, the salespony selling them, their boss for allowing them in their store, the ponies buying them, reading them, enjoying them? Decisions, decisions." Luna continued. They paused long enough to enjoy the Spirit's baffled expression. Celestia let out an overly dramatic sigh. "Perhaps the culprit has been before you all along."
"... You?"
Both Princesses could hardly contain their laughter. "The Princess whose honour you're trying to defend, is what I meant." Celestia replied.
Discord opened his mouth, paused, then blurted out: "Well it's technically all my fault, so-"
"Hook, line, and sinker." Luna remarked again, though this time a small smile dancing on their lips. The sisters chuckled, and Discord realized they were teasing him the entire time.
"Mockery is most unbecoming for both of you. Have you no shame?"
"We do but definitely not enough to stop us." Luna managed. Clearing her throat, Celestia eyed him more sincerely as she continued. "Discord, we love, cherish and pay attention to every part and citizen of our kingdom - we try to, at least - which is exactly why there is no way in the world we would ever think of controlling them - or their actions - in a manner such as you suggest. It's not the kind of rule we'd like to impose."
"Well, I could-"
"And neither will you, if you appreciate what you have right now." Luna added, her tone a pure deadpan.
The Spirit didn't seem to understand the notion of an all-powerful being doing nothing at any given problematic situation as he further exclaimed: "But - you're the rulers of Equestria! Surely you have some say in what can or can not be said in public! Surely you can simply demandand they will-"
"Well, there was a family of such rulers once, a long ago, and if you had read the any of the history books on Equestria, you would have known that it didn't go so well for them. Nor can such form of rule be imposed in any... peaceful manner."
Discord grumbled, shooting Celestia a glare. "I thought you of all ponies cared about her."
"I very much do care so please, do not imply that I don't. The idea makes me irrationally angry." Celestia coldly said, promptly lowering the temperature in the room. The Spirit fell silent. Luna sipped her tea, carefully watching him before finally deciding to be more generous in her replies.
"You seem to care in abundance. It's a surprise, to be sure." Celestia blinked at her sister, seemingly confused. Luna looked at her, speaking up again. "It is not everyday that the god of Chaos comes to us, asking to use our potentially dictatorial ways to shut down several businesses in favor of his friend not being dragged over tabloids. Which all of us in this room suffered before, if I might add."
"You do make a good point."
He made a face. "Oh, here we go with friendship again! Yes, indeed, I do care for quite a few ponies now, your precious little Princess included. Odd that you should point that out as discussion-worthy; I thought this was precisely what you wanted in the first place!"
"Indeed but that still doesn't explain this entire ordeal." Celestia rubbed her temple, starting to get seriously invested into the matter. "You came here to demand impossible of us for the sake of a very small issue."
"Miniscule." Luna added.
"Entirely baffling, really." Celestia added further. "I can only conclude you have a hidden motive, or on the other hand--"
"Well excuse me if I care!" The draconequus finally snapped, and in a rather atypical fashion, clicked himself away with such vigorous anger that a burst of air pushed at them both. Their manes tousled, the royal Princesses shared an odd look. Luna shrugged.
"I have little to no idea what all that was about but it sure made for a more exciting diary entry."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"... Discord, I'm not doing that."
The Spirit was at his wits' end. "You of all ponies should understand! You're practically her sister!"
The only Princess he had left to reach out for help let out a patient sigh. "I'm also a member of the royal family, and if I were to magic away anypony that badmouthed someone, I'd have my hooves full with nothing but that. Not to mention you simply don't do that!" She eyed him nearly angrily. "Did you really think nopony has something to say against any of us?"
Discord groaned. "Of course not but-"
"But what?" Cadance demanded. Unlike Celestia and Luna, she left no room for jokes or quips. "I know you're not here for her sake, so speak clearly, I truly have no time for nonsense. Unless you tell me this instant why this is so important to you, I'll have to ask you to-"
"Because it is important to her!"
"... Oh." Cadance said. Her eyes, much to his horror, rounded in realization. "Oh."
"Oh, no." The Spirit, in a fit of panic, did the only thing he could think of - and a single touch to her forehead later, Cadance fell asleep. "Oh Tartarus, not with this again!" The Spirit wailed. He would truly have to watch out for such spontaneous actions. He took a big breath.
Alright, alright, I- I just need a minute to think and then I'll wake her-- Just one, single mi--
"CADANCE! What have you done with her, you-"
"Oh, not you too!" Discord said, and feeling like he had gone way beyond the end of his wits, snapped his fingers in Shining Armor's direction. The pony fell asleep in the middle of the wild gallop, plopped to the floor, and slid the rest of his way right next to his sleeping wife. The entire situation would surely throw him into hysterical laughter if he weren't hysterically panicking at that moment.
"What in the Tartarus am I doing?!" Discord observed out loud, eyeing the sleeping ponies on the floor. The situation had gone way out of hand, hoof and claw, and he had no idea how to mend it. "Right, I can- Right, right." He teleported the Shining Armor to their bed, made sure he was comfy, and clicked to wake Cadence up.
She stirred awake, and immediately shot him a glare.
"That was the only time you'll do that without consequence."
"On my honour, it wasn't on purpose." The Spirit fidgeted.
"Forgive me if I don't buy tha-" Then she noticed that Discord, in fact, fidgeted. Did he even notice it? Did he know he was, in fact, capable of such reactions? She blinked. "You're serious."
"Is it really that hard to believe I didn't do that intentionally?!" The draconequus growled but she shook her head.
"No, no I mean-" She sighed. "The bit before that. Before I fell asleep."
"Oh. That."
Silence.
"Are you serious?"
"What's with you ponies and confirmations?!"
Cadence was the fourth and last pony Princess on that day to remember that Discord had an odd way indeed to communicate and, bearing that in mind, asked no more about the certainty of this new information. Her eyes rounded and rounded, silence reigned, Discord was preparing to have his entire future questioned and stomped on--
And then she smiled, and in voice dripping with what he could only define as unadulterated joy, uttered:
"That's incredible."
When he clicked himself away at her words, Cadance wasn't surprised. It was his way, she realized. He'd be back one of these days, anyway.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Discord returned to Ponyville in the afternoon, he had hoped this entire ordeal would be done and over with, and he would be able to forget about it forever, simply deciding on never glancing or allowing another newspaper to be left in the library ever again.
Little did he know, this day would only be the beginning.
By dinnertime, Twilight had largely recovered from her sour mood, and though she didn't seem keen on bringing the topic up again, she was clearly in higher spirits than before. Everything looked as if it was going to be just dandy before the little dragon could be heard burping loudly three times, and though Discord knew exactly who those letters were from, he hoped in vain he was wrong about it.
It was only after dinner, when Twilight joined him on the terrace, that she brought up the topic he dreaded.
"Discord, why have I received three letters from the Princesses asking me if everything is alright here? Some of these are pretty oddly constructed. I'm pretty sure Celestia might believe I've been kidnapped or something."
The Spirit scoffed. "It's just old Celly's way of humoring herself. Don't let it stress you out."
"... Right. Well, I just wanted to confirm with you. I guess the newspapers freaked them out a bit if they felt the need to reassure me this way. Come to think of it, that's very sweet of them." She paused with a small smile, rereading one of the letters. "Cadance specifically implored me to talk to you before replying, so if you really got nothing of substance to say, I guess I'll just--"
"There is one tiny thing, I suppose."
"Oh, well, let's hear it, then!"
The Spirit thought long and hard that day about the entirety of everything that had happened. Surely, there was something he had wanted so desperately to say. Surely, this whole day couldn't have been in vain. Surely, everything he did that day was in fact just a very, very roundabout way of saying-
"I never wanted this to happen to you."
"Oh." Twilight looked up at him. "You wanted to apologize? It's alright, I mean, you did; just not in the words I expe-"
"No, no, not that." He grew frustrated, and looked her in the eyes, for once catching Twilight off guard with his own seriousness. For a moment more he was silent, trying to realize how to put emphasis into what he was saying. "Consider this more of..." pause, "... an acknowledgement that your pain is as serious of a matter to me as is a pain of my own."
Silent for a couple of moment during which Twilight managed to process the fact Discord was indeed capable of empathy, the Unicorn gently touched his paw with her hoof, and smiled. Her meek reaction was merely there to cover the fact she felt like doing a somersault right there and then.
"Thank you. I... honestly didn't know it but I needed to hear that."
Immediately reverting back into his typical playful self, Discord sang out: "Nothing but the best from the best draconequus around!"
She rolled her eyes, "I guess I should've known that after such a fantastic date."
"Ha! So you DID like it!"
"I never said I didn't! It was only the aftermath that upset me."
"Well, as one wise Princess once said, 'all of us have suffered before, so walk it off'."
"I sincerely doubt any of the Princesses said that." Twilight scoffed as she got up. "I'm going to bed. We have a long day ahead of us."
"Oh, we do?"
"Right, I forgot to tell you - Princess Celestia invited me to Canterlot again on some official business - she expects I could learn a a lot this time as well." She paused. "You're more than welcome to come with."
"I would never miss a chance to give you another lesson in flight."
She giggled. "It's a date, then! Night."
"Sleep tight."
Left alone, as the entirety of the day wrapped up in his mind, as Cadance's words echoed in his head, and the image and memory of Twilight swam before his eyes, Discord managed to very suddenly realize the gravity of everything he had been feeling toward the young Princess... and the entirety of it thrilled, and terrified him.